


Space Blindness is the Same as Regular Blindness

by Jackolidus



Series: Justin and Justin [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Blindness, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, Mild Space Violence, Robots, Sci-Fi, Space Pirates, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackolidus/pseuds/Jackolidus
Series: Justin and Justin [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2114421
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Space Blindness is the Same as Regular Blindness

When Justin woke up, his whole body was sore. Too sore to move. The kind of sore you felt before you even moved. All his muscles were quietly whimpering about the unfairness of the situation. And Justin was quietly whimpering, too. He saw the lights dim behind his eyelids and heard a quiet voice speak to him. 

“Alright, there you are, Rip. Looks like it’s time to wake up.” The voice was close to Justin's right side. “You can open your eyes.”

Justin bit back a little sound of pain as his eyes throbbed when he opened them. He knew they were open because he could instantly feel them drying out, but he couldn’t see a thing. He whimpered. 

“Relax, kid.”

“Why can’t I see?” he asked, not even registering how much deeper his voice was than usual. “What’s wrong with my eyes?”

The voice sighed carefully. It remained calm, although Justin was freaking out. “You fried your brain with a laser. I was able to reverse most of the damage, but you can expect some memory loss and disorientation.”

“So I’m just blind, now?” he whispered, panicked. 

“Your eyes will adjust, Rip. Don’t worry about that. I’d worry about your memory.”

Justin sobbed. “I don’t remember anything,” he realized. “Are you…Doctor Carabkin?”

The voice made a little sound of praise. “Yes, I am. See? You’re already starting to go back to normal.” There was a pause. “Do you know where you are?”

Justin sniffled. “I was on a ship. I guess this is probably a sickbay of some kind.”

“That’s right,” the doctor said. “That’s very good.”

“I had a really weird dream. That I was a human on Earth. And then I was in a waiting room and I met another Justin and then we swapped lives.” What if that was all it had been? Just a fucked up fever dream? 

The doctor hummed. “Just a dream, Rip. Go back to sleep. You’re going back to your quarters in the morning.”

Justin did as he was told. Sleep came simply. 

When he woke up again, he was sitting up. When he opened his eyes, he could see blurry shapes. He felt loopy and exhausted. Like he should still be asleep. He realized with a jolt that he was moving. 

“Where am I?” he asked, his tongue felt swollen. 

A tinny, robotic voice giggled at him. “Where are you?”

Justin suddenly felt very unsafe. “Where am I?” he repeated, frowning. 

“You’re so funny, Ripper.” The voice was coming from directly behind his head. “You’re on your way back to your quarters.”

Justin swallowed. His throat was dry. “Who are you?”

“I’m Four. I’m Doctor Carabkin’s assistant.”

Justin felt his body stop moving and gripped at the arms of the chair he was in. Maybe it was a wheelchair. There was a swishing noise and Justin felt a change in the air. “What’s happening?”

“The room is pressurizing. I opened your door,” Four explained. 

Justin moved. The new room was warmer than before. He couldn’t smell anything. He couldn’t hear anything. “Where am I?” he asked again. He couldn’t see. It was disorienting. 

“You’re a broken record, today, Ripper. You’re in your quarters, now.”

“I can’t see anything,” Justin said. “Give me a break.”

“You’ve been in a coma for three days, you had plenty of time for a break,” another voice said, a man’s voice. 

Justin’s head jerked in the direction of the voice. “Who are you?”

The voice didn’t say anything.

Four spoke up, “He’s been like that. The Doc says his mind got rattled by the laser.”

“Memory issues,” the other voice said, flatly. “Shit. And he doesn’t remember me.”

Justin felt guilty because the man sounded defeated. 

“Doc says this is the absolute best we could’ve hoped for,” Four explained. 

“I know, Four,” the man snapped. “I was in the same meetings as you.”

“He’s also blind.”

Justin swallowed. “I’m also right here. So you don’t have to talk about me like I’m not.”

“Considering the nature of the injury,” Four continued, “I think he’s better off this way.”

The other man stood up and walked to the door. “Let me know when he’s asleep, Four. I gotta finish moving my shit.”

The door swished shut again, and Justin swallowed again. His throat was still dry. 

“Can you stand up, Ripper?”

Justin didn’t even know. His head was swimming again and his body was starting to feel like lead again. “No.” The back of the chair slowly reclined until Justin was on his back, and he felt a pair of cold metal arms slide him onto a mattress. It was the most comfortable mattress he’d been on for a long time. “Shit.”

“Do you need anything before I go?”

Justin swallowed. “Can I have something to drink?”

Four pulled a blanket up to Justin’s shoulders. “What would you like?”

“What do I normally want?”

“Very strong alcohol. Which I am unauthorized to serve to you.”

That sounded like it wouldn’t go down his throat well. “Can I have something hot? My throat hurts.”

“I can provide hot tea.”

Justin was excited for his tea, but he fell asleep before he could drink it.


End file.
